While the burkini may offend the fashion sensibilities of some French mayors, it doesn't pose a threat to public safety
The burkini ban has taken the movement to ensure public safety a step too far. In late July, Cannes Mayor David Lisnard banned wearing burkinis on public beaches, calling them “the uniform of extremist Islamism.” More than 30 other French municipalities, many along the French Riviera, have since followed suit. Then France’s highest court ruled that mayors don't…
If the arc of Iran's influence grows, on the strength of new nuclear capacity, the whole dynamic in the region will change
The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, and the steady expansion of Tehran’s influence, increasingly prompts the reorientation of Middle East politics along a Sunni-Shia axis. A recent report claimed a secret agreement allows Iran to restore “its full uranium enrichment capacity,” on the 10th anniversary of signing the nuclear agreement. The leak came from the International Atomic Energy Agency,…
Despite vast revenue sources – from taxes to extortion to the sale of antiquities to ramsom – the terrorist group faces a cash crunch
The Islamic State (IS) has been described as either one of the world’s richest terrorist organizations or one of its poorest countries. Neither is quite true. It is a hybrid – half destitute quasi-nation state and half wealthy jihadist organization. What it does have, however, are considerable financial assets. The assets are a combination of…
With the tide turning against it on the battlefield, ISIS is returning to a campaign of indiscriminate urban violence
For the first time since the Islamic State (ISIS) announced its worldwide caliphate on June 30, 2014, it appears that the tide is finally starting to turn against it. Already, however, there are growing signs of how the Islamic State will adapt should it lose control of all, or a significant portion, of its core…
Christians, Muslims and Jews come together to celebrate our common spirituality
Religion, intended to guide humans on the road to spiritual enlightenment, has instead often been a source of division and even a justification for violence. In recent years, however, there has been a significant shift, with religious leaders and their followers coming together to celebrate commonalities. Nowhere is this more evident than in Berlin, once…
All western democracies need to come to the realization that this evil presence must be removed from the face of the Earth
If the worst mass shooting in U.S. history isn’t the wake-up call that western democracies need to bring down radical Islamic terrorism once and for all, I don’t know what is. Sunday’s terrible attack at an Orlando, Fla.-based gay night club, Pulse, left 49 people dead and another 53 people injured. What was their supposed crime?…
Those of us who are Christians have ours, and the Muslims do, too
The familiar refrain of the Right goes something like this: “not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.” It’s become ubiquitous enough that you can find it on T-shirts and bumper stickers. A more intellectualized version of that is found in a recent Wall Street Journal column, by a member of that paper’s…
Christians experience religious persecution more than any other faith group on a global scale and in absolute numbers
There was good news and bad news around an open letter released in Ottawa recently. The bad news was the letter concerned the persecution of about 230 million Christians worldwide faced with “daily threats of murder, beating, imprisonment, and torture.” An estimated 400 million more Christians face appalling discrimination in housing and jobs. The good…
Islamic terrorists are not the only group of religious people who commit violence
“La foi n’a rien à voir avec la morale.” Faith has nothing to do with morality. We came upon this piece of graffiti three years ago while in Tournon in southern France. It could have been written yesterday in response to the Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people and wounded…
With new defence minister Harjit Sajja at the helm, Canada stands a fighting chance of averting a devastating terrorist attack
On Nov. 27, 2005, Mubin Shaikh met, in Toronto, with members of a terrorist group. The group was establishing a terrorist training camp in a wooded area near Orillia, and asked if Shaikh would join them and teach them what he had learned through his military and martial arts training. What they did not know…
The burkini ban has taken the movement to ensure public safety a step too far. In late July, Cannes Mayor David Lisnard banned wearing burkinis on public beaches, calling them “the uniform of extremist Islamism.” More than 30 other French municipalities, many along the French Riviera, have since followed suit. Then France’s highest court ruled that mayors don't…
